MIGRANT AGRICULTURAL WORKERS AT THE NIKOLAEV FAIR
IN THE TOWN OF KAKHOVKA, TAVRIA PROVINCE, AND SANITARY
OVERSIGHT OF THEM IN 1895 — BY I. F. KUDRYAVTSEV, ZEMSTVO
SANITARY PHYSICIAN — KHERSON 1896

During the period from May 3 to May 9 inclusive, 19,571 migrant agricultural workers were registered...

**The Size of Migrant Worker Groups.** The groups consist of a very varied number of members... It is necessary to make a reservation regarding the term "group"; according to the instructions for registrars, it was assumed that only artels that departed simultaneously from the same village would be entered on the group card. But during registration this condition was not always possible to observe — namely, in two cases: 1) groups traveling on timber rafts were frequently assembled during the journey, when workers from other volosts, districts, and even provinces would join the raft during its movement; 2) sometimes groups were also formed from completely different provinces already at work; these were mostly those who had wintered over, but there were very few such cases...

...Among the workers by sex, men predominate — 72.73% (not counting children); women only 27.27%...

MIGRANT AGRICULTURAL WORKERS AT THE NIKOLAEV FAIR

...It deserves attention that the female half of the working population at the labor market consists almost exclusively of young unmarried women, the future mothers of the Russian people...

...Adolescents from 7 to 14 years of age numbered 331 persons, constituting 1.69% of the total composition of workers. Children in Kakhовka among the workers numbered 586*), or 2.90%.

The overwhelming majority of migrants are unmarried — young men, "parubki," and young women; they altogether constitute 69.40% of workers... Their position at home, as is known, is extremely bad; but their position during labor migration for earnings is also extremely unfortunate...

We therefore focused attention on the age of migrant workers because the influx of adolescents to labor markets increases with each year. Thus, according to 1891 data unmarried persons and young women constituted 59%, while according to the present registration they already constitute 68%. This phenomenon is explained by the influence of the spread of agricultural machinery...

...the general percentage of literate persons will equal approximately 15%. Such a high percentage of literacy for southwestern Russia can be explained only by the fact that mostly young, predominantly literate people leave for earnings...

In the following table we present the distribution of registered workers in absolute numbers and percentage ratios by provinces, arranged in descending order by number of registered workers:

| Provinces | Absolute number of workers | Percentage ratios |
|---|---|---|
| Poltava | 11,999 | |
| Kiev | 3,142 | |
| Chernigov | 2,329 | |
| Kherson | 1,514 | |
| Orel | | |
| Kursk | | |

(1—3) Total from 3 industrial provinces 0*12%

Wintered over
| Provinces | Absolute number of workers | Percentage ratios |
|---|---|---|
| Mogilev | | 0.71 |
| Smolensk | | 6.29 |
| Kharkov | | 6.08 |
| Bessarabia | | 0.05 |
| Minsk | | 6.04 |
| Podolia | | 0.03 |
| Ekaterinoslav | | 0.02 |
| Grodno | | 0.02 |
| Tula | | 0.02 |
| Vilna | | 0.01 |
| Volyn | | 0.01 |
| Kaluga | | 0.01 |
| Pskov | | 0.01 |
| Tavria | | 0.01 |
| Voronezh | | 0.005 |
| Kovno | | 0.005 |
| Kazan | | 0.005 |
| Tambov | | 0.005 |

Left home before July 1, 1895
| Provinces | Percentage ratio |
|---|---|
| Kherson | 6.07 |
| Kiev | 6.71 |
| Poltava | 6.29 |
| Orel | 6.80 |
| Kursk | 3.23 |
| Chernigov | 1.44 |

All provinces: 0.11

**Methods of Travel**
| Method | Percentage ratio |
|---|---|
| 1. On timber rafts | 38.32 |
| 2. On carts | 17.43 |
| 3. On foot | 11.45 |
| 4. On foot and by railway | 5.08 |
| 5. On foot and by steamship | 5.05 |
| 6. On foot and on carts | 4.03 |
| 7. On foot, by steamship and railway | 3.07 |
| 8. On foot, by carts and railway | 3.03 |
| 9. On foot, by carts and steamship | 1.09 |
| 10. By railway and steamship | 1.47 |

MIGRANT AGRICULTURAL WORKERS AT THE NIKOLAEV FAIR

| Method of Travel | Percentage ratio |
|---|---|
| 11. By steamship, carts and railway | 1.10 |
| 12. On foot and on timber rafts | 1.01 |
| 13. By carts and steamship | 1.01 |
| 14. By steamship and on timber rafts | 0.73 |
| 15. On foot and on timber rafts | 0.73 |
| 16. By carts and railway | 0.65 |
| 17. By railway | 0.02 |
| 18. By steamship | 0.80 |
| 19. On timber rafts and on timber floats | 0.15 |
| 20. On foot, by steamship and on timber rafts | 0.08 |
| 21. By carts and on timber rafts | 0.07 |
| 22. On timber rafts and by railway | 0.04 |

Used railway: 16.9%

...methods of travel... 1) on foot or overland... 2nd type of travel — water or on timber rafts... 3rd type — steam — by steamship and railway... 4th type — mixed...

...the poorer must leave earlier, since they have nothing for the road and therefore must stop along the way for earnings; also dependent upon means is the choice of travel method: the poorer are forced to walk — the slowest method of travel, at which an enormous amount of time and strength is spent...

NB

...according to the definition of Dr. Zbankov*), the annual labor migration of workers of all categories equals 5 million workers... As for the direct influence of travel method on the health of workers, it is undoubtedly true that primitive methods — on foot and on timber rafts — are inferior from a sanitary standpoint to steam methods...

NB

*) "Vrach" No. 23, 1895. "The Influence of Labor Migration on Population Movement."

Besides stopping on the way for rest, workers, as we have already said, also stop for earnings. During registration in Kakhовka, 444 such workers were noted. Most frequently workers indicate as places of their temporary work Ekaterinoslav, Nikopol, Melitopol, and Berislav; of the 444 notations, 102 fall on the first, 16 on the second, 79 on the third, and 16 on the 4th. More frequently they stop for earnings in Ekaterinoslav and Tavria provinces than in Kherson. Besides those indicated by workers, the following places are mentioned: Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson, Krivoi-Rog, Novyi-Bug, villages of Beloozërka and Novo-Poltavka in Kherson district, and then the cities: Kiev, Kremenchug, Sevastopol, Kerch, Yalta, and Aleksandrovsk.

Of the total number of workers registered in Kakhовka, 13,067, or 80.24% of all those noted, left not for the first time, and 3,218 persons, or 19.70% of all migrant workers, left for earnings for the 1st time...

**The Method of Feeding Workers on the Road.** The uniformity of material, socio-economic position, the commonality of place of origin (often groups leave from the same village), the identity of purpose of travel, and quite frequently also of place where workers expect to find earnings — all this unites workers on the road. Not infrequently groups of 20 persons, and sometimes many more, consist not of fellow villagers but of inhabitants from completely different provinces. They help one another, sometimes having seen each other for the 1st time, in a critical moment, dividing their last kopecks among themselves; we were convinced of this through personal observations at the Kherson fair, but we received the same impressions in Kakhовka. In Kherson they were only confirmed. These figures on the method of feeding workers on the road partly confirm this.

...Here is how the provinces are arranged in descending order by the percentage ratio of sick persons from each province to the total number of sick at the fair (1,913):

**Percentage of Sick from Each Province
to the Total Number of Sick in Kakhовka**

| Provinces | According to party cards | According to fair ambulatories |
|---|---|---|
| Poltava | 58.04 | 64.11 |
| Kiev | 18.10 | 9.03 |
| Chernigov | 14.76 | 15.84 |
| Kherson | 3.32 | 4.70 |
| Orel | 3.15 | 2.51 |

Such a distribution of the total number of sick in Kakhовka is determined by the quantitative ratio of workers who came to Kakhовka by province. The same provinces by total number of all registered workers go in the same descending order, namely:

| Provinces | % of workers by province to total number of workers in Kakhовka |
|---|---|
| Poltava | 61.44 |
| Kiev | 16.05 |
| Chernigov | 11.82 |
| Kherson | 7.71 |
| Orel | 1.7 |

The local sick the least (Kherson residents)

**Morbidity of Migrant Workers, According to Data from Fair Ambulatories, and Population of Kherson District, According to 7-Year Average Data from Zemstvo Ambulatories (in Relative Numbers)**

Fair ambulatories:

| Diseases | In Kherson | Absolute numbers of sick in Kakhовka | % | Relation among migrant workers compared with local | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | |
| I. Epidemic | 33.2 | | | |
| II. Other contagious | 9.14 | 1.611 | 9.07 | |
| III. Syphilis | 0.33 | 0.47 | |
| VII. Local | 492 | 80.25 | 81.21 | |
| 3. Organs of respiration | 4. Organs of digestion | 7.55 | 9.05 | 1.30 | |
| | | 2.51 | |
| | | 1.73 | |
| 8. Organs of vision | 248 | 40.10 | 976 | 51.05 | 4.8 |
| | | 16.10 | |
| | | 1.33 | |
| | | 64.78 | |
| | | 9.80 | |
| | | 21.21 | |

NB

...among those setting out on a long journey there are such as leave home with nothing at all, while in the majority of cases workers take 3—4 rubles... on average one worker receives 3 rubles; the maximum sum of money from home equals 10 rubles, with which there were only 7 workers out of 2,353 questioned...

**Position of Workers at the Fair in Kakhовka and Other Hiring Places...** Prices for labor... all fall, and a significant part of migrant workers remains left out, receiving no earnings at all, i.e., what is called in the language of economic science the reserve army of labor — artificial excess population is created.

We will not be mistaken if we say that at the present time harvesting machines, on the one hand, serve as a regulator of labor prices in the summer period, and on the other hand, also decide the very question of the significance for the district of incoming workers, whose necessity under such conditions becomes secondary. These machines of the system of the German colonist Leppwho now have the widest distribution in New Russia. To judge the degree of their dissemination, it suffices to say that in New Russia at present there exist more than twenty iron-foundries engaged chiefly during the year in the production of Lepp harvesters. In general they produce not less than ten thousand machines per year. In Tavria Province as early as 1893, according to data reported in the works of the commission, 40,000 of these machines were already in operation...

See "Index of Factories and Works" (1890), machine-building production, p. 375.
Ekaterinoslav Province and District, village of Khortitsa, Valman and Lepp. 2 steam machines of 25 horsepower, 27 various machine tools, 3 cupolas, 14 furnaces, 1 steam hammer. They manufacture agricultural machines. At the works a school (1850). 126,000 rubles, 200 workers.

To what extent machines lower wages is evident from the fact that in 1893 machines cut grass in Dnepr District for less than 1 ruble per desyatina at their own expense. Hired machines harvested very thick and tall grain for only 2 rubles and 2 rubles 50 kopecks per desyatina bundled into shocks, and bundled into sheaves for 3 rubles 50 kopecks...

Previously, when machines were not on the market and only a full-strength worker was valued in the economy, women were hired in the smallest quantity and only as cooks, while boys were assigned only as sheep herders, calf herders, and swineherds; they were not suited for the present steppe work...

...the observation of the manager of the Birzulov medical-provisioning station, relating to the second half of June ("Medical Chronicle of Kherson Province" No. 12, 1895).

"To have some notion of the state of affairs at this local labor exchange," he says, "it suffices to familiarize oneself with the results of the latest market day. At it, together with those already previously registered, there were 138 persons, and only 4 were hired, namely: 2 for 2 months at 14 rubles, 1 for 3 months at 8 rubles, and 1 for 2 months at 13 rubles 50 kopecks. At each market day one encounters already familiar faces of workers..."

...Prices for harvesting grain by hand proved so low that many landowners, having their own machines, preferred hand harvesting to machine harvesting"...

NB

| Method | Poltava | Pskov | Smolensk | Tambov | Tavria | Tula | Kharkov | Kherson | Chernigov | Not indicated | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| On foot | 2,044 | | | | | | | | | | |
| On foot and by steamship | | | | | | | | | | | |
| On foot and by railway | 904 | 1,768 | | | | | | | | | |
| On foot, by steamship and railway | 185 | 6,851 | | | | | | | | | |
| On foot and on timber rafts | | | | | | | | | | | |
| On timber rafts | 997 | 264 | | | | | | | | | |
| On foot and on carts | 666 | 424 | | | | | | | | | |
| On carts | 139 | 4,265 | | | | | | | | | |
| By railway and steamship | 640 | 1,873 | | | | | | | | | |
| On foot, by carts and railway | 728 | 142 | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | 82 | 165 | | | | | | | |
| | | | 28 | 130 | | | | | | | |

Total who used railway: 3,043 = 17%

| | | | | | 110 | 108 | 116 | 180 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | | | | | 28 | 130 | | |
| | | | | | 13 | 131 | | |
| Total: | | | | | | | | 17,894 (and according to Tezyakov 17,829) |

MIGRANT AGRICULTURAL WORKERS AT THE NIKOLAEV FAIR